Method, system, and apparatus for communicating with a computer management device

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus are provided for enabling communication with a computer management device. According to a method one or more vendor specific commands for communicating with a management device are defined according to a first communication standard. The one or more vendor specific commands are then transmitted to the management device over a communication link conforming to a second communication standard. A device conforming to the second communication standard may be emulated on the communication link. If vendor specific commands are received by the management device that are not intended for the emulated device, the commands may be used for communicating with the management device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Computers are often linked together through networks to allow theresources of a computer at one location to be utilized by users locatedat a different location. In a distributed environment such as this,computers known as servers perform various tasks for client computersthat communicate with the servers over a network. Servers enable sharingof files and other resources between client computers and the server. Asan example, a world wide web (“web”) server may provide documents andother resources to client computers over the Internet.

It is often necessary to manage the operation of a server computer. Forinstance, it may be desirable to determine the relative health of aserver computer by viewing screen display information and by interactingwith the server through user input devices. This is especially true forserver computers that maintain resources that are utilized by a largenumber of client computers, such as within a corporate network or theInternet. For many conventional systems, the technician that needs toview the screen displays and interact with the server being managed isrequired to be physically located at the site of the server. However, itis not always feasible for a technician to be physically present at thelocation of the server computer.

For example, a system administrator of a corporate network may bepresent at one location while the servers of the corporate network maybe spread around the country or even the globe. To effectively managethe servers on the corporate network, the system administrator must beable to monitor and control each of the server computers, regardless oftheir location. Because the system administrator cannot be physicallypresent at each server to be managed, effective management of the servercomputers becomes very difficult if not impossible. As a result, it canbe very costly to maintain servers located in disparate physicallocations.

Some systems for remotely administering server computers utilize aserver computer management device connected to each server computer.Each management device connects to a video output of a server computerand is operative to compress and transmit the video output of the servercomputer to a remote computer via a network connection. User inputreceived at the remote computer is transmitted to the management deviceand is provided by the management device to the server computer as ifthe input was made locally to the server computer. In this manner, themanagement device can receive user input commands provided at the remotecomputer and provide the input commands to the server computer as if theinput commands were physically generated by a user at the servercomputer. A user of the remote computer can control the operation of theserver computer from a remote location and perform administration tasksas necessary.

Because many server computers are “headless” and do not have a directlyattached display or input devices, installing and configuring amanagement device has previously been very difficult. In particular,some management devices implement custom communication hardware forcommunicating with the server computer. Because custom hardware isutilized by the management device, a hardware driver must be providedfor each operating system with which the management device will beutilized. The hardware driver must then be installed each time amanagement device is attached to a server computer. Because servercomputers are typically headless, it can be very difficult to ensurethat a driver has been successfully installed for communicating with themanagement device.

Another problem with previous management devices relates to theredirection of the video output of the server computer to a remotecomputer. In particular, when a user of the remote computer connected tothe management device moves a mouse cursor at the remote computer orother type of input pointer, there can be a long delay before themovement is reflected in the redirected video output of the servercomputer that is displayed at the remote computer. This can be veryfrustrating and confusing for a user. Accordingly, there is a need foran improved management device that may be installed and utilized withoutthe need for a custom hardware driver and that can improve the speed ofa user input cursor on a remote computer when redirecting video from theserver computer. It is with respect to these considerations and othersthat the present invention has been made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, the above and other problemsare solved by an improved management device for connection to a hostcomputer that does not require a custom hardware driver. Moreover,according to the methods, systems, and apparatus provided herein, thespeed of a user input cursor on a remote computer can be greatlyincreased when the management device is utilized to redirect the videooutput of the host computer to a remote computer.

According to one aspect of the invention, an improved management devicefor managing the activities of a host computer is provided. Themanagement device is operative to receive the video output of the hostcomputer and to transmit the video output over a network to a remotecomputer. The management device is also operative to receive user input,such as keyboard commands or mouse movements and selections, from theremote computer and to provide the user input to the host computer.Through the use of such a management device, a remotely located user ofthe remote computer can view the video output of the host computer andcontrol the operation of the host computer. To accomplish these tasks,the management device receives the video output of the host computer andprovides input to the mouse and keyboard connectors of the hostcomputer.

The management device provided herein is also operative to communicatewith a host computer over a standard communication link, such as aUniversal Serial Bus (“USB”) connection. To enable communication betweenthe host computer and the management device, the management deviceemulates a standard device on the communication link. For instance,according to one embodiment, the management device is operative toemulate a standard mass storage device, such as a CD-ROM device, on thecommunication link. Because the device is a standard device, theoperating system of the host computer can utilize a standard operatingsystem vendor-provided driver to communicate with the emulated device.No custom hardware driver is necessary to communicate with the deviceemulated by the management device on the communication link.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the emulated mass storagedevice can be utilized to redirect the contents of a mass storage deviceconnected to the remote computer to the host computer. Through the useof program code executing on the management device and the remotecomputer, the contents of a mass storage device physically connected tothe remote computer, such as a CD-ROM device, can be made available tothe host computer. In particular, program code executing on themanagement device exposes the contents of the mass storage device of theremote computer to the host computer through the emulated mass storagedevice on the communication link. All read and write requests from thehost computer are intercepted by the management device and relayed overthe network to the remote computer. From the perspective of the hostcomputer, the emulated device appears no different than a physicaldevice actually connected to the host computer.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the emulated deviceprovided by the management device on the communications link can beutilized for out-of-band communication between the host computer and themanagement device. Out-of-band communication may be useful, forinstance, for configuring aspects of the operation of the managementdevice from the host computer. In order to provide out-of-bandcommunication without requiring a custom hardware driver, the hostcomputer issues vendor specific commands that conform to a secondcommunication standard to the managed device over the communicationlink. For instance, according to one embodiment of the invention, thehost computer issues small computer system interface (“SCSI”) commandsover a USB connection to the emulated mass storage device in order toperform out-of-band communication with the management device.

When the management device receives commands destined for the emulatedevice, firmware executing on the management device determines whetherthe commands are actually intended for the emulated device, such as aread or write command, or whether the commands are vendor specificcommands intended for out-of-band communication with the managementdevice. If the commands are actually intended for communication with theemulated device, these commands are processed in a manner that allowsthe host computer to communicate with the emulated device. If thecommands are intended for communicating with the management deviceitself, the commands are intercepted and utilized by the managementdevice for the requested purpose. The management device may also performreturn communication with the host computer utilizing vendor specificcommands.

According to one aspect of the invention, out-of-band communicationbetween the host computer and the management device is utilized toconfigure aspects of the management device. In particular, according tothis embodiment of the invention, an application executing on the hostcomputer is operative to transmit vendor specific commands to theemulated device over the communications link for configuring themanagement device. The management device is operative to receive thecommands, to determine that the commands are not actually intended forthe emulated device, and to utilize the commands to configure itself.For instance, commands may be issued to configure a network address orother device-specific feature of the management device.

According to another aspect of the invention, out-of-band communicationbetween the host computer and the management device may be utilized toincrease the speed of a user input cursor, such as a mouse cursor, shownon the redirected display of the remote computer. In particular,according to this embodiment of the invention, the management device isoperative to continually receive data from the remote computerindicating the current position of a user input cursor on the remotecomputer. An application executing on the host computer is operative toperiodically transmit vendor specific commands to the emulated devicerequesting the current position of the user input cursor on the remotecomputer. The management device receives the vendor specific commands,determines that the commands are not actually intended for the emulateddevice, and, in response to the commands, returns the current positionof the user input cursor of the remote computer to the host computer.The application executing on the host computer then sets the location ofthe user input cursor on the host computer to the same position as thereceived current position. In this mariner, the position of the userinput cursor on the host computer more closely follows the position ofthe user input cursor on the remote computer and increases the speed ofthe cursor on the remote computer.

According to various aspects of the invention, a method, acomputer-controlled apparatus, and a computer-readable medium havinginstructions capable of performing the various embodiments describedherein are also provided. These and various other features as well asadvantages, which characterize the present invention, will be apparentfrom a reading of the following detailed description and a review of theassociated drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an operating environment forthe present invention that allows a remote computer to display screenframes of a host computer and provide user management with the hostcomputer;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of a host computer andmanagement device provided according to the various embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a software architecture for a hostcomputer utilized in the various embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing aspects of a communication linkbetween a host computer and a management device according to thedifferent embodiments of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating the functional aspects of theoperation of a system for communicating with a management deviceaccording to the several embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As described briefly above, embodiments of the present invention providemethods, apparatus, and computer-readable media for communicating with aserver management device. In the following detailed description,references are made to the accompanying drawings that form a parthereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specificembodiments or examples. These embodiments may be combined, otherembodiments may be utilized, and structural changes may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thefollowing detailed description is, therefore, not be taken in a limitingsense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like numerals represent likeelements throughout the several figures, aspects of the presentinvention and the illustrative operating environment will be described.FIG. 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief,general description of a suitable computing environment in which theinvention may be implemented. While the invention will be described inthe general context of enabling communication between a host computerand a management device, those skilled in the art will recognize thatthe invention may also be implemented in combination with other computersystems and program modules.

Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, datastructures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with othercomputer system configurations, including hand-held devices,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Theinvention may also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules or data files may be located in both localand remote memory storage devices.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a general operating environment for embodimentsof the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, a system100 is provided according to the various embodiments of the invention.The system 100 includes a host computer 102 that is to be remotelymanaged. A management device 110 (also referred to alternately as a“redirection device”, an “interaction device”, or “management hardware”)is interposed between a network 118 and the host computer 102. A remotecomputer 120 is linked to the network 118, and the host computer 102 mayor may not be linked to the same network 118 or another network notshown. The network 118 may be of various forms such as a local areanetwork (“LAN”) or wide area network (“WAN”) including the Internet. Auser is located at the remote computer 120 and remotely manages the hostcomputer 102 via the network 118 and management device 110.

The management device 110 may be linked to the host computer 102 throughseveral input/output (“I/O”) connections of the host computer 102.Generally, a host computer 102 will have a video display output 106,such as an analog or digital VGA output. Also, the host computer 102typically includes a PS/2 port or ordinary serial port configured as amouse port 104, a keyboard port 108, and may also include a universalserial bus (“USB”) port 109.

The video display output 106 provides a signal that ordinarily is passeddirectly to a display screen or monitor 116 where screen frames aredisplayed for a user present at the host computer 102. However, in theembodiment shown, the video display output 106 provides a video signalto a video input of the management device 110. The management device 110then passes the video signal through a video output to the displayscreen 116 where a normal video display of screen frames occurs.Additional details regarding the operation of the management device 110and its operations upon the video signal are described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/247,876, entitled “Systems and Methods forEstablishing Interaction Between A Local computer and a RemoteComputer”, which is assigned to the assignee of the instant patentapplication and expressly incorporated herein by reference.

User input devices may also be provided for the host computer 102,including a local mouse 112 and local keyboard 114. Conventionally, thelocal mouse 112 and local keyboard 114 would be directly connected tothe mouse port 104 and keyboard port 108 of the host computer 102.However, for the embodiment shown, the local mouse 112 and localkeyboard 114 are connected to a mouse port and keyboard port,respectively, of the management device 110 and provide mouse andkeyboard data to the management device 110 through these connections.The management device 110 then passes the mouse data and keyboard datato the respective ports of the host computer 102.

In addition to providing the pass-through of the video signal to thedisplay screen 116, the management device 110 captures screen frame datafrom the video signal and transfers the screen frame data across thenetwork 118 to the remote computer 120. The remote computer 120 has anetwork interface 124 linking the remote computer 120 to the network118. The network interface 124 used by the remote computer 120 may be ofvarious forms such as a dial-up modem or an Ethernet connection to aLAN. Various protocols of data transfer may be utilized between themanagement device 110 and the remote computer 120, such as the TCP/IPprotocol ordinarily used via the Internet.

The remote computer 120 implements an application, such as a dedicatedapplication or plug-in executing within a general purpose browser windowsuch as a web browser, for receiving the screen frame data through thenetwork interface 124 and providing a display on the display screen 134.The display includes the screen frame produced by the host computer 102that corresponds to the screen frame data transferred by the managementdevice 110. Typically, the remote computer 120 includes a video adapterthat has a video output 128 connected to the display screen 134 toprovide the video signals.

To allow the user of the remote computer 120 to fully interact with thehost computer 102, user interface devices such as a mouse 130 andkeyboard 132 are connected to a mouse port 122 and keyboard port 126,respectively, of the remote computer 120. The user manipulates the mouse130 and keyboard 132 to interact with the screen frame shown on thedisplay screen 134, which may be formed wholly or in part by the screenframe data received over the network 118. When the user activity at theremote computer 120 is entered with respect to the screen frame datareceived from the management device, then the processing device of theremote computer 120 transfers the user activity data over the network118 to the management device 110 that passes it to the mouse port 104and/or keyboard port 108.

Once the host computer 102 receives the user activity data through themouse port 104 and/or keyboard port 108, the host computer 102 thenimplements the user activity as if it had occurred directly through thelocal mouse 112 or local keyboard 114. When implemented, the useractivity alters the screen frame to be displayed. Therefore, the videosignal output by the video connector 106 to the management device 110provides the screen frames that show the change caused by the useractivity at the remote computer 120, such as the mouse pointer moving ortyped letters appearing in an electronic document.

The management device 110 transfers the screen frame data showing theuser activity to the remote computer 120 where it is then provided tothe display screen 134. Thus, the user activity initially performed atthe remote computer 120 is represented on the display screen 134immediately as it is being performed by the user and then once againafter updating the video display of the host computer 102 andtransferring the updated screen frame back to the remote computer 120.

As processing and propagation delays decrease within the environment100, the initial and subsequent display of the same user activity (i.e.,multiple cursors or mouse pointers) on the display screen 134 convergein time so that the user sees only one change. For example, moving amouse pointer within the host computer screen frame shown on the displayscreen 134 may appear immediately as the user performs the activity andthen later reappear such as a ghost movement once the screen frameupdate is received. However, as delays are reduced, for example byGiga-bit per second network transfer rates, or through methods describedherein, the initial and subsequent mouse pointer movements converge toone movement as perceived by the user of the remote computer 120.Furthermore, as discussed below, the host computer 102 may continuallydetermine the location of the mouse pointer, or cursor, on the remotecomputer 120 and set the location of the mouse cursor on the hostcomputer 102 to the same location. This also increases the perceivedspeed of the mouse cursor on the remote computer 120.

In addition to receiving user input, the management device 110 may alsoprovide for additional management with the remote computer 120 byproviding a USB connection to a USB port 109 of the host computer 102.The USB connection allows the management device 110 to emulate USBdevices for the host computer 102, such as additional mass storagedevices including devices that the host computer 102 may use whenbooting-up. For example, the remote computer 120 may provide a floppy,CD-ROM, or hard disk drive that contains a boot-up sequence to be usedby the host computer 102. Upon a connection being established over thenetwork 118 between the management device 110 and remote computer 120,the host computer 102 may boot from a media source of the remotecomputer 120 with the boot-up sequence provided through the USB port109.

The USB connection from the management device 110 may also allow a localkeyboard and mouse and/or a keyboard and mouse of the remote computer tobe emulated for the host computer 102. For example, the host computer102 may have only USB ports instead of PS/2 ports and the managementdevice 110 outputs mouse and keyboard signals to the host computerthrough the USB connection.

To establish the USB connectivity discussed above between the managementdevice 110 and the host computer 102, a USB microcontroller may beincluded as a part of the management device 110. The USB microcontrollercommunicates with the processing device 220 to emulate a USB node forthe host computer 102. Thus, a media source of the remote computer maybe accessible by the host computer 102 by the USB microcontroller 234emulating a USB media device for the host computer 102.

It should be appreciated that the redirection device may comprise adevice located internal to the host computer 102 or an external deviceconnected to the external connections of the host computer 110 as shownin FIG. 1. Such a device is described in U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/247,876, entitled “Systems and Methods for EstablishingInteraction Between A Local computer and a Remote Computer”, which isassigned to the assignee of the instant patent application and expresslyincorporated herein by reference. Another embodiment may comprise amanagement device 110 that is integrated with the main system board ofthe host computer 102 or contained on an adapter card located within thehost computer 110. Such a device is described in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/016,484, entitled “Systems and Methods for Capturing ScreenDisplays From A Host Computing System for Display At A Remote Terminal”,which is also assigned to the assignee of the instant patent applicationand expressly incorporated herein. It should be appreciated that thephysical and logical connections between the various components areessentially the same regardless of whether the management device 110 islocated internal to or external from the host computer 102. It shouldalso be appreciated that other configurations may be utilized withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Referring now to FIG. 2, additional details regarding the operation ofthe host computer 102, the management device 110, and the remotecomputer 120 will be described. As described briefly above, the hostcomputer 102 and the remote computer 120 may comprise standard desktopor server computers. The host computer 102 and the remote computer 120may include many of the convention components of such computer systems,including a central processing unit (“CPU”), a volatile memory, a massstorage device, a display device, input devices such as a mouse andkeyboard, and other conventional peripherals (not shown in FIG. 2). Themass storage devices within the host computer 102 and the remotecomputer 120 and their associated computer-readable media, providenon-volatile storage for the host computer 102 and the remote computer120, respectively. Although the description of computer-readable mediacontained herein refers to a mass storage device, such as a hard disk orCD-ROM drive, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatcomputer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby the host computer 102 and the remote computer 120.

By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media maycomprise computer storage media and communication media. Computerstorage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable andnon-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storageof information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but isnot limited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solidstate memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (“DVD”), orother optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which canbe used to store the desired information and which can be accessed bythe host computer 102 and the remote computer 120.

A number of program modules and data files may be stored in the massstorage devices and memory of the host computer 102 and the remotecomputer 120, including an operating system suitable for controlling theoperation of a networked personal or server computer, such as one of thefamily of WINDOWS operating systems or the MS-DOS operating system fromMICROSOFT CORPORATION of Redmond, Wash. Other operating systems may alsobe utilized, such as the LINUX operating system.

According to various embodiments of the invention, the mass storagedevice of the remote computer 120 may also be operative to store amanagement plug-in 212. As described briefly above, the managementplug-in 212 may comprise a stand-alone program or a plug-in operative toexecute within a standard web browser. The management plug-in 212 isoperative to decompress the video data transmitted by the managementdevice 110 and to display the video output of the host computer 102 onthe remote computer 120. The displayed output may include screendisplays generated by the application programs, a basic input/outputsystem (“BIOS”), or the operating system of the host computer 102.

According to various embodiments of the invention, the managementplug-in 212 is also operative to receive user input commands, such asmouse cursor movements, mouse button selections, and keyboard commands,generated at the remote computer 120 by a user and to transmit thecommands to the management device 110. The management device 110 thenreceives the user input commands from the plug-in 120 and provides theinput commands to the host computer 102 as if the input commands werephysically generated by a user at the host computer 102. In this manner,user input commands generated by a user physically located at the remotecomputer 120 may be passed through to the host computer 102.

The management device 110 comprises a special-purpose hardware devicethat includes a firmware program 206 stored in a non-volatile memory forperforming the functionality described herein. The management device 110also includes many of the conventional components of a special-purposecomputer system. For instance, the management device 110 may include aCPU, a volatile and non-volatile memory, and an input/output controllerfor connection to the host computer 102 and the network 118 as describedherein. For instance, the management device 110 may include a USB hubcontroller for connecting to the host computer 102 via the USBcommunication link 214. It should be appreciated that other types ofcommunication links may be utilized for enabling communication betweenthe host computer 102 and the management device 110, such as IEEE-1394,USB 2.0, and others.

The management device 110 is also operative to store configuration data208. Configuration data 208 defines settings for the management device110, such as network settings, including the network address for themanagement device, and other configuration details. The configurationdata 208 is stored in a non-volatile memory of the management device110. In order to modify the configuration data 208, a configurationapplication 202 may be utilized on the host computer 102. As will bedescribed in greater detail below, the configuration application 202issues commands to an application programming interface (“API”) thatcommunicates with the management device 110 utilizing SCSI commandsissued over the USB connection.

As discussed above, the management device 110 may emulate a mass storagedevice, such as the emulated CD-ROM device 210, on the USB connection214. The emulated CD-ROM device 210 may be utilized to redirect thecontents of a mass storage device attached to the remote computer 212 tothe host computer 102. The emulated CD-ROM device 120 may also beutilized for providing out-of-band communication between the hostcomputer 102 and the management device 110. The emulated CD-ROM device210 appears to the host computer 102 as a standard USB CD-ROM.Accordingly, the operating system executing on the host computer 102utilizes a standard CD-ROM driver provided by the manufacturer of theoperating system utilized on the host computer 102 for communicatingwith the CD-ROM device 210. No custom hardware drivers are necessary.

In order to modify the configuration data, the configuration application202 issues commands to an API configured to issue vendor defined SCSIover USB commands to the emulated CD-ROM device 210. When these commandsare received at the management device 110, the firmware 206 receives thecommands and examines the commands to determine whether the commands areactually intended for the emulated CD-ROM device 210, such as read andwrite commands. If the commands are actually commands for configuringthe management device 110, the firmware modifies the configuration data208 as requested and issues a return call to the host computer alsoutilizing SCSI-over-USB commands. In this manner, the host computer 102can communicate with the management device 110 without the use of acustom hardware driver.

Communication between the host computer 102 and the management device110 in the manner described above may also be utilized to increase thespeed of a user input cursor on the remote computer 120 when the videooutput of the host computer 102 is redirected. To accomplish this, themanagement plug-in 120 periodically transmits to the management device110 the coordinates of the mouse cursor. In order to retrieve thecoordinate information from the management device, the host computer 102executes a “mouse booster” application 204. The mouse boosterapplication 204 periodically transmits a request to the managementdevice 110 for the current coordinates of the mouse cursor on the remotecomputer 120. This request is transmitted utilizing vendor defined SCSIcommands over the USB communication link 214 in the manner describedabove. When these commands are received at the management device 110,the firmware 206 receives the commands and examines the commands todetermine whether the commands are actually intended for the emulatedCD-ROM device 210.

If the commands are actually commands requesting the current position ofthe mouse cursor on the remote computer 120, the firmware does not passthe commands to the emulated CD-ROM device 210, but rather responds tothe commands with the current location of the coordinates of the mousecursor on the remote computer 120. The mouse booster application 204executing on the host computer 102 then sets the location of the mousecursor on the host computer 102 to the same position as the coordinatesof the mouse cursor on the remote computer 120. By continually modifyingthe position of the mouse cursor on the host computer 102 (for instance,every 50 ms) to reflect the current position of the mouse cursor on theremote computer 120, the effective speed of the mouse cursor on theremote computer 120 when interacting with video redirected from the hostcomputer 102 is greatly increased.

Referring now to FIG. 3, aspects of a software architecture utilized onthe host computer 102 for communicating with the management device 110will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the mouse booster application 204and the configuration application 202 communicate with a passthrough API302. The passthrough API 302 insulates the application programmer fromhaving to understand the vendor specific SCSI over USB commands utilizedfor communicating with the management device 110. Rather, thepassthrough API 302 provides a higher level set of routines that can becalled from an application layer for communicating with the managementdevice 110.

The passthrough API 302 issues commands to a SCSI communications layer304 provided by the operating system of the host computer 102. Asdescribed above, these commands are vendor defined SCSI commands thatare transmitted over a USB transport mechanism. Other types of transportmechanisms may also be utilized to transmit the SCSI commands. In turn,the SCSI communications layer 102 communicates with a standard USBdriver 306 provided by the manufacturer of the operating systemexecuting on the host computer 102. Because a standard driver isutilized, no additional drivers need to be installed on the hostcomputer 102 to enable communication with the management device 110.

The USB driver 306 communicates with the management device USB node 308over a USB cable. Commands received at the USB node 308 can be processedand utilized for configuring the management device 110 or for retrievingthe coordinates of the mouse cursor on the remote computer 120. Itshould be appreciated that return commands from the management device110 to the application executing on the host computer 102 may take thereverse path through the USB node 308, the USB driver 306, the SCSIlayer 304, and the passthrough API 302.

Referring now to FIG. 4, additional details regarding the connectionbetween the host computer 102 and the management device 110 will bedescribed. As discussed briefly above, a communication link isestablished between the host computer 102 and the management device 110for transmitting out-of-band commands. According to the illustrativeembodiment described herein, the communication link comprises a USBconnection 214. However, it should be appreciated that the host computer102 and the management device 110 may communicate over other types ofcommunication links conforming to different standards. For instance, thehost computer 102 and the management device 110 may be connected via aFIREWIRE connection or other type of high speed interface known to thoseskilled in the art.

As also briefly described above, in order to communicate with theemulated mass storage device on the USB connection 214, the hostcomputer 102 issues vendor specific SCSI commands 302. As known to thoseskilled in the art, although the communication link between the hostcomputer 102 and the management device 110 comprises a USB connection214, commands may be defined by a vendor of the management device andtransmitted over the USB connection 214 utilizing the SCSI protocol.When issued, these commands are typically ignored by the host computer102 and passed directly through to the intended device on the USBconnection 214. It should be appreciated however, that althoughSCSI-over-USB commands are utilized in the present invention, othertypes of commands conforming to other types of communication standardsmay also be issued over the communication link between the host computer102 and the management device 110.

Turning now to FIG. 5, a flow diagram will be described illustrating amethod for enabling communication between the host computer and themanagement device. It should be appreciated that the logical operationsof the various embodiments of the present invention, including thoseshown in FIG. 5, are implemented (1) as a sequence of computerimplemented acts or program modules running on a computer system and or(2) as interconnected machine logic circuits or circuit modules withinthe computer system. The implementation is a matter of choice dependantupon the performance requirements of the computer system implementingthe invention. Accordingly, the logical operations making up theembodiments of the present invention described herein are referred tovariously as operations, structural devices, acts, or modules. It willbe recognized by one skilled in the art that these operations,structural devices, acts and modules may be implemented in software, infirmware, in special purpose digital logic, and any combination thereofwithout deviating from the spirit and scope of the present invention asrecited within the claims attached hereto.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a routine 500 will be described thatillustrates a method for enabling communication between a host computer102 and a management device 110. The routine 500 begins at operation502, where vendor specific commands are defined for use in communicationwith a management device 110. In particular, according to theembodiments described herein, commands are defined for reading andwriting data at the management device 110, for setting configurationdata 208 on the management device 110, and for retrieving the locationof mouse coordinates on the remote computer 120. It should beappreciated that a vendor of the management device 110 may define othertypes of commands for performing other types of functions with respectto the management device 110.

From operation 502, the routine 500 continues to operation 504. Atoperation 504, the management device 110 is operative to emulate a massstorage device on the USB connection 302. In particular, according tothe various embodiments described herein, the emulated device comprisesa standard CD-ROM device. However, other types of devices may also beemulated and utilized provided that the host computer 102 is equippedwith a standard driver for communicating with the emulated device. Oncethe management device 110 has emulated the CD-ROM device and made thedevice available to the host computer 102, the routine 500 continuesfrom operation 504 to operation 506.

At operation 506, the host computer 102 issues vendor specific SCSIcommands over the USB connection 302 to the emulated CD-ROM device. Inparticular, as described above, the commands may comprise commands forsetting the configuration data 208 on the management device 110 or forretrieving the current location of a mouse pointer on the remotecomputer 120 from the management device 110. From operation 506, theroutine 500 continues to operation 508.

At operation 508, the transmitted commands are received at themanagement device 110. The routine then continues to operation 510,where the management device 110 determines whether the received commandis actually intended for the emulated device. In particular, themanagement device 110 determines whether the commands are read or writecommands intended for accessing data on the emulated device or whetherthe commands are vendor specific commands for modifying theconfiguration data 208 or obtaining the location of the mouse pointer onthe remote computer 120.

From operation 510, the routine 500 continues to operation 512, wherethe management device determines whether the received command isactually intended for the emulated CD-ROM device. If the command isintended for the CD-ROM device, the routine 500 branches to operation512, where the received command is passed to the emulated CD-ROM device.In this manner, the host computer 102 can access the contents of themass storage device redirected from the remote computer 102 to themanagement device 110 in the manner described above. From operation 514,the routine 500 continues to operation 526.

If, at operation 512, the management device 110 determines that thereceived command is not intended for the CD-ROM device, the routine 500continues to operation 516. At operation 516, the management device 110determines whether the received command comprises a vendor specificcommand for setting the configuration data 208. If the command isintended to set the configuration data 208, the routine 500 branches tooperation 518 where the firmware program 206 sets the configuration data208 in the manner described in the received commands. The routine 518then continues to operation 526.

If, at operation 516, the management device 110 determines that thereceived command is not a command to configure the management device110, the routine 500 continues to operation 520. At operation 520, themanagement device 110 determines whether the received command comprisesa vendor specific command for receiving the coordinates of the mousecursor on the remote computer 120. If the command is for retrieving themouse cursor coordinates, the routine 500 branches to operation 522. Atoperation 522, the management device 100 returns the current position ofthe mouse cursor on the remote computer 120 to the house computer 102.The routine 500 then continues from operation 522 to operation 526.

If, at operation 520, the management device 110 determines that thereceived commands are not vendor specific commands for requesting thecurrent position of the mouse cursor, the routine 500 continues tooperation 524. At operation 524, other types of commands issued by thehost computer 102 to the management device 110 may be processed. Theroutine 500 then continues from operation 524 to operation 526, where itends.

Based on the foregoing, it should be appreciated that the variousembodiments of the invention provide methods and systems for enablingcommunication with a computer management device. The abovespecification, examples and data provide a complete description of themanufacture and use of the composition of the invention. Since manyembodiments of the invention can be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claimshereinafter appended.

1. (canceled)
 2. A method for communicating with a computer managementdevice, the method comprising: defining one or more vendor specificcommands for communicating with the management device, said vendorspecific demands conforming to a first communication standard;transmitting the one or more vendor specific commands to the managementdevice over a communications link conforming to a second communicationstandard; emulating a device on the communications link, the emulateddevice conforming to the second communication standard; receiving theone or more vendor specific commands at the management device;determining whether the one or more vendor specific commands aredestined for the emulated device; and in response to determining thatthe one or more vendor specific commands are not destined for theemulated device, utilizing the received vendor specific commands forcommunicating with the management device. 3-20. (canceled)
 21. Themethod of claim 2, further comprising utilizing data contained in thereceived vendor specific commands to configure the management device inresponse to determining that the one or more vendor specific commandsare not destined for the emulated device.
 22. The method of claim 21,wherein configuring the management device comprises setting a networkaddress of the management device based upon the contents of the receivedvendor specific commands.
 23. The method of claim 2, further comprisingin response to determining that the one or more vendor specific commandsare not destined for the emulated device: determining the coordinates ofa user input cursor on a remote computer system; and returning thecoordinates in response to the received vendor specific commands. 24.The method of claim 2, wherein the first communication standardcomprises the SCSI standard, the second communication standard comprisesthe USB standard, and wherein the emulated device comprises a USB massstorage device.
 25. A computer-readable medium havingcomputer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed bya computer, cause the computer to perform the method of claim
 2. 26. Acomputer-controlled apparatus configured for performing the method ofclaim 2.